How’s your summer going on? I hope everybody is enjoying their summer with fun activities with the kids.

Anyway if you feel bored and don’t have ideas what to do with your kids, or if you don’t have ideas what to cook for your kids, you can find some ideas by clicking here:

Free Summer Stress Package for Mom

Enjoy!

I found a good article about how to teach kids about money.

15 Ways to Teach Kids About Money

by Paul Richard

Introducing Kids to Money
Money gives people — both young and old — decision-making opportunities. Educating, motivating, and empowering children to become regular savers and investors will enable them to keep more of the money they earn and do more with the money they spend. Everyday spending decisions can have a far more negative impact on children’s financial futures than any investment decisions they may ever make. Here are 15 simple ways to help educate children about personal finance and managing money:

1. As soon as children can count, introduce them to money. Take an active role in providing them with information. Observation and repetition are two important ways children learn.
2. Communicate with children as they grow about your values concerning money — how to save it, how to make it grow, and most importantly, how to spend it wisely.
3. Help children learn the differences between needs, wants, and wishes. This will prepare them for making good spending decisions in the future.
4. Setting goals is fundamental to learning the value of money and saving. Young or old, people rarely reach goals they haven’t set. Nearly every toy or other item children ask their parents to buy them can become the object of a goal-setting session. Such goal-setting helps children learn to become responsible for themselves.
5. Introduce children to the value of saving versus spending. Explain and demonstrate the concept of earning interest income on savings. Consider paying interest on money children save at home; children can help calculate the interest and see how fast money accumulates through the power of compound interest. Later on, they also will realize that the quickest way to a good credit rating is a history of regular, successful savings. Some parents even offer to match what children save on their own.

You can read the other tips here.

Top Reasons why kids refuse to sleep

Oddly enough, children this age don’t turn their nose up at napping because they suddenly need less rest — changing sleep patterns are the real culprit. “A baby’s urge to sleep builds up faster than a toddler’s or preschooler’s, so a baby gets tired earlier in the day,” says Dr. Owens.

By the toddler years, a child’s urge to sleep earlier in the day weakens, allowing him to stay awake longer. Consequently, your child’s need to nap may come and go as his body adjusts to a more adultlike sleep pattern. But biology isn’t totally to blame here — there are a few temporary factors that trigger naptime battles.

Growing independence. Toddlers love to be in control, so it’s no surprise that they’ll refuse to sleep on your command. Plus, kids this age are so active and curious that they hate the idea of taking a snooze break (”What if I miss something exciting?”).

Scheduling conflicts. The naptime at your toddler’s daycare or preschool may not coincide with the hour your child typically gets tired. If he’s at home, his ideal naptime may conflict with a sibling’s schedule or your daily routine.

Lack of sleep. It’s hard to believe, but overtired kids may have trouble falling asleep. That’s because when toddlers get tired, they often become irritable and hyperactive, says Dr. Owens.

A major change. Any stressful event — moving to a new house or switching to a big-kid bed, for example — may make your child feel too anxious to doze off easily.

No matter what’s got your toddler’s nap schedule out of whack, your main concern is to ensure that he gets enough sleep in a 24-hour period, says John Herman, PhD, professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas. When he logs those hours is less important. In fact, many toddlers who stop napping during the day will compensate by sleeping longer at night anyway.

Unfortunately, it can be tricky to figure out how many hours of sleep your toddler needs, since the answer depends entirely on your child. “Studies show that at age 3, for example, kids need anywhere from 10 1/2 to 15 hours of sleep,” says Dr. Owens. “The average is around 12 hours, but some kids need more and some need less.” Your child’s behavior is your best clue: If she wakes up spontaneously in the morning and is generally in a good mood, she’s probably getting plenty of zzz’s.

 Make Naps a Snap

For the next couple of years, while your child phases out his naps, you should still give him the opportunity to rest. Try these strategies.

Don’t call it a nap — call it quiet time or rest time. That way, your toddler won’t feel like he’s being forced to sleep when he thinks he isn’t tired. Tell him he has to stay in bed (or in his room) for a certain amount of time and do a quiet activity, such as coloring or looking at books. Even if he doesn’t fall asleep, you’ll both benefit from the break.

Set a soothing scene. Plan relaxing activities just before naptime to help your child wind down. Try to follow a routine that’s similar to her bedtime rituals: Read a book (see “Soothing Stories for Anti-Nappers”), tuck her in with her favorite stuffed animal, or put on soft music.

Respect his schedule. Resist the urge to plan your toddler’s nap around your errands. Instead, watch your child for signs of sleepiness. If he doesn’t seem tired at his current naptime, consider switching it to a later hour. Just don’t make it too late — if you let your child sleep past 3 or 4 p.m., you may be in for a big bedtime battle.

Offer a choice. Your reluctant napper may be more agreeable if you give her some control over when she snoozes. When I ask my daughter the right question — “Would you like to nap now or in five minutes?” — she’s less likely to start a power struggle.

The Upside of Downtime

Don’t underestimate the importance of sleep: Research shows that children who don’t log enough zzz’s in a 24-hour period often struggle in these areas.

Learning. Sleep helps kids convert recent experiences into long-term memories. Tired kids may also have decreased verbal skills, attention troubles, and poor abstract reasoning.

Mood. You’ve probably seen the evidence for yourself: Poor sleep often leads to irritability, hyperactivity, aggressiveness, and impulsive behavior.

Health. Researchers suspect that inadequate sleep is linked to everything from decreased immunity to an increase in accidental injuries.

Source: http://www.health-women.info/family-health/top-reasons-why-kids-refuse-to-sleep.html

Parents can be very good teachers as well apart from being very good guides and mentors. There are a number of good issues and topics that you can teach your child as a responsible parent. However, nothing could be as important as teaching your child good mannerisms and an exemplary sense of responsibility. Teaching responsibly to your kid means assisting to learn and understand the ways and methods by which your kid can interact with friends and strangers. It also involves displaying self respect and empathy towards others.

Mind you no kid in this world comes studded or equipped with very good behavior and mannerisms. Nor do any child takes his or her birth preprogrammed with character traits like willingness to share and distribute, respect the feelings of others, show respect towards authority and empathize with impoverished children. It is possible to teach considerate behavior and responsible mannerisms when your child is still young and tender; this will help your child to completely develop the behavior when she or he grows up and becomes adult.

The first lesson begins at your home and you are also the first teacher who is trying to transform your kid into a responsible citizen. Primary lessons start in the cozy ambience of your home and the first basic lesson is setting a good example on a daily and consistent basis. As a parent, you can perform this by:

• Exhibit a high level of mature behavior in how you deal with people, both close and strangers

• Exhibit a very high level of tolerance in reacting to a stressful and critical situation

• Show your kids how you can manage people with your ultra people friendly behavior, in what ways can you manage divergent opinions and handle conflicts and disagreements

You can exhibit a positive role by being responsible to yourself! When you are responsible and disciplined, it becomes very easy for you to help your kids learn how to think better, feel good and act in manner that is normal and responsible. Good behavior also involves pursuing a habit of considering other’s feelings and opinions. Responsibility and good mannerisms also include other character traits like accountability, fairness, compassion, integrity, honesty, self respect, courage and confession.

Responsible behavior is also a cultivated habit that evolves gradually over time. It is a result of your outlook in daily life and composed daily habits. You may wish to integrate and gel several beneficial aspects of responsible behavior in your kid’s daily life. The main goal of the program should focus on teaching and inculcating the good habit of respect and compassion (empathy) towards others, including strangers. Here are some of the most basic traits that should form foundation stones of the program:

• Honesty: Being truthful and realistic to our mind and conscience will help us become responsible and dedicated to our life.

• Courage: If your child is courageous and truthful, he or she can be extremely responsible in the future. This trait will help in taking good decisions based upon truth and evidence, not upon ulterior motives.

• Self Control and Self Discipline: These positive indicators will help your kid to act responsibly in preventing bad and inappropriate behavior. He or she will also learn to control anger and impatience.

• Self Respect and Pride: When your child is honest, truthful, and courageous and honest, she or he can start to respect themselves before respecting others. These are possibly the most cherished traits in your kids.

Compassion, kindness, empathy and respect towards others are the most desirable characters in your kid. These traits are not only necessary in life to perform better socially; your kid also needs them to empower to perform better both in personal and professional spheres. Gelled with establishing an excellent example and getting actively involved in your kid’s development and encouragement of social skills, spending quality time with kids and teach them about proper, right, correct and responsible behavior are some of the corrective actions that you can take as a parent, while streamlining your kid towards the road to responsibility.

More often, teaching your kid to be responsible is a long journey and a tedious process fraught with uncertainties and imponderables. As a parent, what you need from your side is 100% commitment and perseverance and the right and fitting ambience in your home. It is also a continuous process where both you and your kids are the active participants in the learning cycle.

Source: http://www.brainy-child.com/